Investor focus to remain on US-China trade talks
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2019 16:13:46 +0000
Developments in US-China trade talks and corporate earnings reports are expected to influence the stock market’s direction this week.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi), along with other Asian markets, retreated on Friday following reports that little progress had been made after a week of high-level negotiations in Beijing.
However, Chinese President Xi Jingping’s announcement later in the day that talks would continue this week in Washington, along with US President Donald Trump’s claim that discussions were going “extremely well”, subsequently boosted European and US stock markets, with the Dow in particular notching an eighth straight week of gains.
In a comment over the weekend, Diversified Securities Inc. trader Aniceto Pangan said investors would again be looking for news about the outcome of this week’s negotiations, adding that the market would also be influenced by fresh earnings disclosures.
The PSE calendar only lists builder D. M. Wenceslao and Associates Inc. as scheduled to announce 2018 results this week. Next week, meanwhile, will see blue chips Manila Electric Co., SM Investments Corp. and BDO Unibank Inc. holding briefings for analysts.
Eagle Equities Inc. research head Christopher Mangun also said that more corporate earnings would provide catalysts for the stock market, with a upside potentials over the short term.
“The PSEi (Philippine Stock Exchange index) has been trading sideways within the range of 7,800 and 8,100 for the last few weeks and it may continue to do so for a few more weeks. This could also be classified as consolidation which strengthens the market as it builds more momentum for more upside growth in the longer term,” he noted.
Mangun said foreign inflows could also slow but said this would be healthy as “we don’t want the money to flow in too fast as this might cause a ‘too far, too fast’ scenario.”
The PSEi dropped by 1.03 percent or 82.36 points to close at 7,908.89 last Friday while the broader All Shares declined by 0.58 percent or 28.32 points to finish at 4,823.32.
FROM REPORTS BY ANGELICA BALLESTEROS AND AFP
The post Investor focus to remain on US-China trade talks appeared first on The Manila Times Online.